Graham Rice's New Plants Blog

Editor-in-Chief of the RHS Encyclopedia of Perennials; writer for a wide range of newspapers and magazines including The Garden and The Plantsman; member of the RHS Herbaceous Plant Committee and Floral Trials Committee; author of many books on plants and gardens.

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Hopleys Plants: New at Hampton Court ‘09

There's been a flood of new Coreopsis arriving in gardens and nurseries in recent years, in fact I have a whole article just about these new coreopsis in the August issue of the RHS members' magazine, The Garden. I was expecting to see quite a few of them at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this week at but the only one I spotted was Coreopsis ‘Rum Punch' shown by Hopleys Plants.

Hopleys have a long and impressive tradition of launching good new plants and this attractive American Coreopsis hybrid in an unusual shade looks as if it has a place both in containers and borders.

The fine, dark green, thread-like foliage is topped by a long succession of single flowers in an unusual shade of watermelon pink. In fact the plant changes colour as it ages so the result is an attractive tapestry of amber, lemon, rose and mainly watermelon.

The plants on show are a little taller than their usual height - the heat wave was again responsible, I think - 30-28cm/12-15in would be more usual in garden plants. They need plenty of sunshine, adequate moisture during the summer but good drainage in winter. ‘Rum Punch', and some of the other recently introduced varieties, are less tough than old favourites like C. verticillata ‘Moonbeam' but even if they don't survive the winter they make superb container plants with a very long succession of flower.

Coreopsis ‘Rum Punch' is on sale at the show and is also available from Hopleys Plants.